Tuesday Takes – December 12, 2017

Tuesday Takes – December 12, 2017

Published: Tuesday, Dec 12th 2017, 1:12pm

by Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

• The Toronto Argonauts made a huge splash on Monday afternoon by trading OL Mason Woods to Edmonton for QB James Franklin and a 3^rd round draft pick. What a deal for Toronto. They get their potential franchise player AND a draft pick. Should free agent to be James Franklin sign a deal with the Argos, they are laughing.

• So where does this leave Ricky Ray? If I’m Ray, I’m probably retiring and going out on top as a Grey Cup Champion. But if Ray decides to stay in Toronto another year, why would Franklin sign a deal there? He wants to start and it’s been mentioned that he only wants to sign a 1 year deal then pursue the NFL. If that’s the plan and Ray stays, Franklin is better off going somewhere else to start. If I’m Franklin, I’m still testing the Free Agent waters in February to see what else is out there.

• Smart trade by Edmonton. Mike Reilly isn’t going anywhere, so you might as well get something for a player you won’t be able to re-sign anyway. Reminds me a bit of the Darian Durant trade this year. The Riders weren’t going to sign him, so they traded his rights to Montreal. It’s always a good deal when you get something for nothing and the Esks are getting a quality, young (and MASSIVE) OL that could help them out for the next 10 years.

• With the Franklin trade, we may start to see the QB dominos fall. Brandon Bridge’s value to the Riders has SKYROCKETED with this trade. Assuming that Franklin does sign with the Argos, that takes the guy that (we assume) Chris Jones has wanted all along to be his QB here in Saskatchewan. Brandon Bridge looks a lot more attractive to the team now and would likely be cheaper than other potential FA QBs like Trevor Harris, Zach Collaros and even Travis Lulay.

• The smartest play by the Riders here is to sign Bridge ASAP, ideally before his meeting with Commissioner Randy Ambrosie about QBs being counted in the ratio. If Bridge gets his way (and really, the way it should be) and can count towards the ratio, he has an even higher value. Signing him before that happens can save the Riders some coin and help strengthen the team elsewhere.

• My co-host Steve made his QB predictions for the Riders earlier last week and the more I think about it, the more I can see him being right. Is Brandon Bridge really a starting QB in the CFL? I don’t think Chris Jones thinks he is a long term answer. He’s the best option on the Riders roster right now, no doubt about that, but Jones has said he would like more out of his QBs in practice and Bridge doesn’t look great in practice. If it won’t be Franklin, I hope it’s Bridge, but I won’t be shocked if it’s someone else. My real concern is the strength of the O-Line (this is a recording), but we can talk about that another time.

• Speaking of Brandon Bridge, he has a workout scheduled with the New York Giants. Am I the only one a bit surprised by this? I think he has the tools to be a good (not great) CFL QB, but he doesn’t make reads quick enough to be an NFL QB. Good for him and best of luck, but I would be more than shocked if he even got a spring camp invite.

• Other Riders that are getting NFL looks are WR Nic Demski (New York Giants) and CB Kacy Rodgers (Minnesota Vikings). Great for them. I don’t see Demski getting a training camp invite, especially after an injury filled 2017, but I can see Rodgers getting a serious look. He was with the Kansas City Chiefs before he came up to the CFL in 2015 and improved a lot in 2017 after a so-so 2016 season.

• Just about every CFL team has started making their offseason moves and signing some of their pending free agents and other free agents. Where are the Riders moves?? We saw a few players released, but nothing that really shocked anyone. This leads me to believe that they were so close to the salary cap that they won’t officially announce any moves until the new year when the 2018 salary cap kicks in. Still plenty of time to sign some of the important free agents like Brandon Bridge, Duron Carter, Jovon Johnson, Otha Foster, etc. but it would be a nice Christmas gift for Rider Nation to have some of their favourite players locked up for next year and beyond.

• Don’t forget that we at Piffles Podcast are putting on a Rush bus from Regina to Saskatoon on February 24 to see the Saskatchewan Rush take on the Calgary Roughnecks! $85 gets you a ride to and from Saskatoon on a nice comfy bus (with wifi, plug ins and more) and tickets to see the game! If you are interested and want more information, please contact us at Piffles Podcast by email info@pifflespodcast.com, on Twitter @PifflesPod or on Facebook at facebook.com/pifflespodcast.

  If you’ve never been to a Saskatchewan Rush game before, it promises to be a good time, so let us know if you’d like to join us!